Last Days of Spring....

It's been a beautiful weekend here in Bend....sunny skies, a warm sun, nice breezes. Hope you all are having a fun Sunday and Happy Father's Day!

Jools

Florence!

Florence is on my mind this morning because I just bought tickets to see her show here in Oregon next month. I can't wait!

I've been listening to her music quite a lot lately. As I mentioned in another post, Florence and the Machine was playing non-stop in the background as I wrote 44 Book Four and it appears that the same thing is happening as I write Book Five.

I love the song "Blinding." Here's a link if you want to listen.....

I love the lyrics too, especially these:

No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone
No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love
No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world    ---Florence + the Machine

Hope you all are having a great week~

Jools

When Sunday Nights Are Good...

This is a random post about watching a lot of television, but I had so much fun last night that I had to share.

First off, at about three in the afternoon yesterday, I found out about the Adele television special on NBC. Wow, lucky find~she was amazing!

 

Then I watched the season finale of Game of Thrones, which was fantastic! I loved those incredibly intense scenes, like when Daenerys, Mother of Dragons, searched for her dragons in the House of the Undying and found her dead husband and baby in a tent, and the White Walkers in the snow. I was happy too that Tyrion Lannister was still alive after the battle last week. Wow! This series has it all...myths, heros, demons, suffering and triumph, love and loss. It's going to be really, really hard to wait a year for the next season.

The fun of the evening didn't stop there...a quick refreshment break and I was back on the sofa....
 
Madmen was next up and awesome, as always. After last week's shocker with Joan and Peggy, the writers refused to let up and put us through another heartbreak at the very end of the episode.

And finally, I topped the night off watching Veep with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It was nice to see a comedy after all the drama of the evening.


I confess that I'm a little sluggish today, with a slight headache and wobbly vision. But the evening of indulgence was well worth it...

Hope you all are having a great week~

Jools

P.S.  I did a few interviews with some of my favorite writer/blogger friends last week, so if you'd like to check them out, here are the links:

http://allisonkarras.blogspot.com/

http://deborahjhughes.com/

Thank you!!!

Thank you everybody! It's exciting to see so much interest in the 44 series. I love writing about Abby and Kate and Ty and Jesse and Bend, and will keep writing about them all as long as they have exciting stories to tell. If you haven't already done so and would like to, I would so appreciate reviews on Amazon or BN! And thanks SO much to those people who have already left them :)

I've had some people ask me about the next book in the 44 series, so I wanted to announce here that 44 Book Five is scheduled to be released August 1.


I also wanted to mention how much I love Florence+the Machine and how her music really influenced Book Four. During the last few weeks of writing it, Florence was singing non-stop over here. I'm a huge fan, completely addicted, and can't wait until July to see her live.

A lot of her music is perfect for the 44 series. Here is a clip of Seven Devils, which belongs with Chapter 26 of Book Four.


On another note, I managed to get out on a short hike in the Badlands earlier this week. Ty and Abby hike there in Book Four. It's not too far from town, but is always pretty empty. It's so beautiful and lonely, and is a great place to think.

Hope you all are cooking up fun plans for a great Memorial Day weekend! My big wish for these next few days is to be done with snow once and for all. Yesterday and this morning slushy white blobs were falling from the sky.

Have a great, long weekend!

Jools

Book Four Update

Here are the links to Forty-Four Book Four on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Thanks for all your excitement, patience, and understanding! Happy Mother's Day weekend!


Jools

Book Four Coming Soon!

Forty-Four Book Four is just a few days away. This Saturday, to be exact. Until then here's the cover...

Quick Trips are Good....

I read something a little while ago about the importance of having fun. I don't know if it's the lingering snow or the amount of time I've been sitting at the computer lately, but this last week I've been feeling a little, well, unfun, so I decided it was time to stir things up and take a small trip.

So on Monday, the fam and I left the High Desert for a few days and went down into the "Valley," over to Portland, to see Kathleen Edwards play at the Aladdin.

Kathleen Edwards was absolutely amazing! It was the kind of concert that you walk away from feeling lucky that you were there, a part of something that was really special. She sounded incredible, her music and words were beautiful, and her passion was stunning. It'll be a night I'll always remember.


She played one of my favorites, A Soft Place to Land, a song that must be included on the 44 soundtrack. If you haven't heard it yet, go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vV1J3cQnj0


We also were able to go to two fantastic restaurants while in Portland. The two are connected, owned by the same guys and WOW, they were both excellent! Before the concert, we stopped by Toro Bravo for dinner:

Above is the Sherry Chicken Liver Mousse that would make even Hannibal Lecter cry. That was just one item we all shared....

And then, the next morning, breakfast at Tasty N Sons...

If you're in the Portland area and are interested in going to either of these restaurants, make sure to get there early or bring some patience as both places are popular and crowded. We arrived at Toro Bravo ten minutes after it opened and got the last table.

It was a great trip. And when we got home, there was even some more fun as we watched the Barcelona game. It was a big one...playing AC Milan for a spot in the semi-finals of the Champions League. Barca won, and I know it made Abby happy.


Well, it feels like the fun trip worked. I came home happy and refreshed and am ready to dive right back into Book Four (which will be released next month around Mother's Day).

Hope you all are having a great week and have some fun plans brewing!

Jools